County Democratic chairs blast Blankenbush for taking outside money while criticizing opponent for the same

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 9:17 am

The chairs of the Lewis, Oswego, and St. Lawrence County Democratic Committees blasted 122nd District Assembly Candidate Kenneth Blankenbush over what they say is his hypocritical double standard on campaign cash.

They say a mailer from Republican Blankenbush criticizing his opponent, Brian McGrath, for taking Democratic campaign contributions from outside the district, was actually paid for by outside Republican money.

“The Albany-based Republican Assembly Campaign Committee sent a negative mailer for Ken Blankenbush attacking Brian McGrath for his support from friends outside the 122nd District,” said St. Lawrence County Democratic Chair Mark Bellardini.

“Ironically, Albany money paid for the mailer itself, and Mr. Blankenbush forgot to tell his Albany bosses that he has been a loud supporter of Matt Doheny, who’s taken nearly $600,000 from New York City-area contributors. It’s a hypocritical double-standard, and shows once again that Ken is out of touch with North Country voters, and even those in on his own party’s ticket,” said Bellardini.

The chair people say that McGrath has more than twice as many contributors from the North Country as Blaneknbush “because he has fresh ideas and a real plan to be a stand-out leader in a crowd of old-guard politicians in Albany.”

“If Mr. Blankenbush truly believes that out-of-district support compromises a candidates’ ability to represent their district, he should stop letting the Albany-based Republican Assembly Campaign Committee and the Long Island-funded Republican State Committee fund his negative campaign, and he should rescind his support for Matt Doheny who’s raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street tycoons,” they said.